Those are the type that AVO supplied me as the free exchange for the damaged original poly, what I found is that as they had worn away the eye into an oval shape that they came loose and rattled about, solved by JB Welding the spacers into place and no more rattling issues

Andy, FIRST OF ALL I AM NOT HAVING A GO AT YOU.
Those are Not Metalastic bushes, just the cheap rubbish they been using for years.
Metalastic bushes are made from Proper Rubber and were developed by Dunlop Polymer Engineering not a man grating up old tyres in a shed in India.
Just feel how soft they are.
All the steel bushes are doing is "Containing the rubber that gets pushed out of the sides.
It will not prevent the centre tube from wearing its way through the rubber, been there seen the results.

I have used injection moulded plastic in the past and it seems to last about Four times longer than those awful rubber sleeves.

At the end of the day they should use a correct type of bush for the loads that are applied to them, and I have told them so.

Back in the late 90`s, I was the First RSSOC trader to stock and supply Avo`s and I fell out with them for the shocking ( pun intended) quality of those bushes, now Gaz are using them too.

See the Beast on youtube under" RELIANT SCIMITAR CONVERSION LOL.,Se5,Se5a, Se6a, Two Se6b`s, GTC, SST 1800Ti & not a lot of sense

I had wondered about the quality of GAZ, given their low pricing. Having been round Spax and Protech recently, there's only one way to go cheaper and that's to source parts from the lowest bidder and at some point quality is compromised or bottom price is reached.

This post interests me as I have two AVO shocks that have been leaking from only a couple of years (and less than 3000 miles) after they were fitted new. I now have 2 years of MOT advisory notes saying shocks weeping (during which the garage told me not to change the shocks as they would eventually dry up and the problem would solve itself!) So I don't want to go back to AVO and was considering GAZ. Since I am more interested in quality than price, while there is no overall consensus here, am I safer to go for Spax or Protech than Gaz?

I too am more interested in quality than price but the GAZ were recommended by quite a few people and the ride does seem better than the AVO (but early days). Today 'again' I went back to Nigel at AVO about the bushes and mentioned the "fit for purpose" his response was I'm just being a cheapskate.

I agree it would be a great help to many if we knew the facts about the various shocker options.

Perhaps the traders could look into obtaining and providing a proper metalastic bushes from somewhere such as these people, possibly something an individual wouldn't be able to do but a trading company could, would certainly give options to unhappy customers.

No longer a professional trader Mike.
Couldn`t live off the profits/losses when I did.
But I do have a lot of stock, and have kept in touch with the manufacturers and suppliers, and still have the machinery to manufacture parts myself.

See the Beast on youtube under" RELIANT SCIMITAR CONVERSION LOL.,Se5,Se5a, Se6a, Two Se6b`s, GTC, SST 1800Ti & not a lot of sense

Jim I once fitted a set of Gaz that a customer supplied me with, he requested the rose jointed type as he too was not happy with the rubbers.
When the units arrived it was obvious they would NOT be a straightforward swap as the inner ball was too narrow for the chassis so I had to turn up a set of sleeves to stop them moving around, Two of the joints failed within a year and we just bought another pair to fix it rather than go through a protracted argument with Gaz.
This was even though they were plastered in Moly Grease to keep water out.
The car is now in France so I don`t know how its doing.

See the Beast on youtube under" RELIANT SCIMITAR CONVERSION LOL.,Se5,Se5a, Se6a, Two Se6b`s, GTC, SST 1800Ti & not a lot of sense